The Role of the Integrin-linked Kinase (ILK) in Mammary Gland Tumorigenesis and Metastasis
Abstract
The research objective outlined in the original proposal was to determine the role of the integrin-linked kinase (ILK) in the induction and progression of metastatic mammary tumors. This work was initially based on the observation that overexpression of ILK in cultured epithelial cells results in changes characteristic of oncogenic transformation (Hannigan et al, 1996; Novak et al., 1998; Radeva et al., 1997; Wu et al., 1998). In order to evaluate the oncogenic potential of ILK in the mammary gland, we derived transgenic mice that express ILK under the transcriptional control of the MMTV promoter. The appearance of focal mammary tumors in these MMTV/ILK mice confirms that mammary-specific expression of ILK can facilitate malignant transformation in vivo. A second major objective was to determine the role of ILK in tumor progression by ablating its function. For this purpose, we established transgenic mice expressing a kinase-dead allele of ILK in the mammary epithelium. We are currently breeding these mice with our MMTV/erbB-2 strains to assess the importance of ILK in erbB-2-mediated mammary tumorigenesis and metastasis. This last experiment is particularly relevant to the understanding and treatment of human breast cancer, given the known importance of erbB-2 in the progression of this disease.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA384019
Entities
People
- Donald E. White
- William A Muller
Organizations
- McMaster University